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Unifly partners with Terra Drone India to support UTM in India

13 February 2019

Unifly and Terra Drone India collaborate to support drone traffic management in India. Belgium-based Unifly, a leader in Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM), is entering the India market through a partnership with Terra Drone India.

Unifly NV, the leading drone traffic management provider, has entered into an agreement with Terra Drone India Pvt. Ltd., an end-to-end drone solutions provider, to facilitate the safe integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the Indian airspace.

Unifly's highly-automated air traffic management system combines technologies like flight planning, airspace approval, live tracking of UAS, and dynamic situational awareness, to handle a large number of drones flying in the most challenging environments. These are the capabilities that India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Civil Aviation require to actualize Digital Sky Platform, the most advanced drone control platform in the world.

As an authorized reseller of Unifly's UTM solutions in India, Terra Drone India will work actively with India's central and state governments, aviation bodies, and other related authorities to apprise them with Unifly's solutions and help them develop and improve drone traffic management in India.

Why this is important

With more and more countries refining drone regulations, effective Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) has become a pressing issue for many nations. In December 2018, the United Kingdom's second largest airport, Gatwick, had to shut down three times in three days because of suspected drone sightings in the area. In January 2019, flights in and out of New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport were disrupted due to reports of a drone flying in sensitive airspace nearby.

India has recently announced a draft framework (Civil Aviation Regulations 2.0) to pave the way for commercial drone operations and drone deliveries in the country. This draft policy also recognizes the need for a robust UTM system to enable beyond visual line of sight missions (BVLOS).

At Global Aviation Summit 2019, where this policy framework was made public, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha, said, "Our priority is to make India a world leader in the drone ecosystem. As we prepare to cross the thresholds of BVLOS, payloads, and automation, we need an extremely sophisticated air traffic management. If there are thousands of drones in the sky, we should be able to find out exactly where each drone is, and seize control if needed."

Unifly's UTM solution does just that by visualizing and managing drone traffic in real-time, while its unique software applications facilitate UAV traffic in very-low-altitude airspace. The Belgium-based company is already collaborating with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the United States to improve theirUTM,and providing enhanced drone traffic management capabilities for UAS test sites in New York. In Japan, Unifly has joined hands with Hitachi to co-develop a UTM system for the country. Meanwhile, DFS, the company in charge of air traffic control for Germany, has decided to become an important shareholder in Unifly after working on its software for two years.

"With the new government policies, the commercial drone market in India is poised to grow significantly. But that would only be possible by regulating the new wave of drones and creating a safe flying environment for all. Unifly's Unmanned Traffic Management system can facilitate this process by bringing the world'sbest tried and tested technologies to the Indian airspace," said Marc Kegelaers, CEO of Unifly.

"To enable both manned and unmanned aircraftto share the skies safely, India requires a reliable UAS traffic management solution. With partnerships in the US, Germany, and Japan, Unifly has already proven that its software and technologies can address the most complex UTM challenges successfully. We are proud to be associated with Unifly as their authorized reseller in India," said Prateek Srivastava, CEO, Terra Drone India.